Volume 1 Episode 7 - Against the Crooked Sky
by Aintzane
Summary: A dangerous heretic keeps on eluding from the grip of the Inquisition, and Volentia is eager to solve this case and redeem after her previous fail. She has to accept assistance from the most unexpected parties to get out of the uneven struggle when she is forced to participate in the hunt for a cursed artifact.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The Weeping Seer sat immobile in his crystal pavilion walled up with golden living metal of the Ancestors. In half-slumber he reached out beyond the psychic shields plunging into the fickle tides of tainted aether. The Womb of Destruction was never calm, its roiling waves ceaselessly carried the lost craftworld round and round the warp whirlpool.

Voices of enticement and danger were never silent in this cursed place. Almost caught by She-who-thirsts, Craftworld Altansar couldn't rely on the intricate warp-crafts of their race anymore. No one but the Seer ever dared to look into the Sea of Souls as all the others had almost given up their warp-sight, many even choosing the path of a Solitaire. Dire need forced the doomed denizens to uncover long-forgotten heirlooms in the deepest, darkest parts of the Webway.

Many a brave explorer ventured out for the fabled derelict cities, and the Weeping Seer guided then, unraveled twisted strands of their futures to deliver them from harm. Some returned with warp-worn pylons, some brought the most precious living material feared by the Neverborn. The Ancestors used to grow it like wraithbone, he knew from the old lore, but somehow had managed to make it resist the never-ending warp corrosion.

'You have arrived, Eitleog Nightfall.' The Weeping Seer awoke from his contemplation when the Exarch approached the pavilion. 'The Harvester of Souls still far away, I can trust this to no other than the Shrine of Relentless Time.'

'What have you seen there today, Seer?' The answer came in a sinister whisper.

'A stranger desires to rob the Crooked Sky of its abhorrent secret.'

'This has happened for many times since we sealed the abomination's hall.'

The Weeping Seer felt the sickening smell of musk and blood once he recalled the cursed craftworld. 'The stranger bears a mark not seen since the Defilement of Iarmailt. I see countless of our kind dead in every future where he retrieves what he seeks. A foe long forgotten, a foe of insatiable hunger even the Ancestors feared.'

Eitleog Nightfall touched the barrel of his weapon. 'My cannon never misses.'

'If I only needed a warrior who can shoot straight, would I have called upon you?'

'The Vault hasn't been opened while I've been wearing the Reaper's mask.' Now Eitleog couldn't hide his trouble from the Seer's psychic glance.

'I would have advised you to awaken the Avatar on Iarmailt but Altansar cannot allow the finest of its fighters to sacrifice himself without truly extreme need.'

'One who is already one with death isn't afraid of dying.'

The Weeping Seer closed his eyes, ready to continue his dream-quest into the countless futures. 'Up to you to decide, Exarch. Yet you should haste as two more figures have just been added to the board. Insignificant they may seem but the change they are to wright has already tangled most of the fate's strands.'


	2. I

Two weeks had passed since we set off from Abilene aboard a smuggler ship, pursuing the enigmatic man known as Blackred DM. There were rumours about his misdeeds all over the Abilene sub-sector, one worse than another. Some said he was a fallen inquisitor as he was seen with a rosette from time to time. Some said he was a hit man who dared to hunt inquisitors for cults that could afford it. He used multiple names in bars and spaceports but left us only that weird pseudonym when he sent another menacing message to the Ordos.

He had been seen in the capital for a few times this year, and I happened to be the only witch-hunter present in the system when he was spotted hiring a trading ship. Lady Fungata's commission reached me on a backwater rural world where we had spent two months looking for warp-infected pests a scared farmer had reported to the local security forces. As it often happened, it turned out to be a groundless rumour that had driven nuts the whole farming cluster. Still it had been a decent commission in our nearly penniless state as peasants were at least good believers of the Imperial Creed who viewed Inquisitors and Space Marines as angels from heaven. Having saved up on potatoes and beets, we were counting the remaining funds for a flight back to Uebotia. Before embarking to the port, I paid a visit to the local Astra Telepathica office. We couldn't hope for a good case like earlier but even the hunt for DM let me prove myself.

I didn't even hope to intercept the elusive man but warp pursuit was the only way to make him at least relatively vulnerable. After the scandal with Lady Melitara, most traders shunned us with made-up excuses. Uncle had heard many scary talks in the ports about how we had brought a daemonhost to Melitara's ship, and it nearly killed the captain. Others argued we had lured her to a trap when she accused me of heresy. As for the Conclave, I hadn't become a popular matter of coffee time discussions like Plodia. Professional fails are never as interesting to people as adultery. After Lady Cichlasoma's report, they put me on the list of dubious operatives and then forgot about it. Fungata's letters had become short and dry, but I didn't miss her pompous admonishments taken right from books like 'Quotes of Imperial Saints for every day of the year.'

But the mistrust of honourable rogue traders bought me interest, if not respect, of smugglers. Of course, they planned to use me in their ambitious plans, Uncle said. A Radical made them think about forbidden goods and pirate worlds outside the borders.

'What a sly fox.' Tamias, the smug captain of the ship, lit another lho stick with his usual light-hearted grin. 'Even the yours can't find out where he's from. One thing is certain - not from our long-suffering sub-sector.'

'You agreed to pick us up once you heard the name, Tamias, but are fervently denying any previous connections.' I replied with a slight smile, strolling before the oculus screen.

'For the thousandth time you ask it, and for the thousandth time I answer I'm not even slightly aware of his business.' Tamias shook ash off the stick and winked at me.

Two and a half centuries old, the smuggler captain was still youthly and more vigorous than most people of his age. He had told countless stories on the brink of heresy but never crossed the edge. I had promised him full amnesty when striking the deal yet under his cheerful persona he was a calculating and cautious man to be wary of.

Uncle had got an instant liking of Tamias, and they spent countless hours in the mess or on the bridge with a bottle of amasec or wine competing in the art of storytelling. A proper company for a retired mercenary, unlike a wannabe cop, two prudes and a giant rodent. Fluffster often listened to their conversations sometimes telling stories of his own. Having probably engaged in forbidden xeno trade, Tamias hardly paid attention to the cricetid's appearance.

Unfortunately, the most interesting talks happened in my absence. A young girl and a cop, an unlucky combination to be trusted by old dogs. I could only hope Fluffster would share some important clues if he wished. Uncle kept to his old code of honour when it came to camaraderie.

'Mail for you, sir, m'lady.' The chief astropath approached us with two memory cards.

'Tons of rubbish for his entire mailing list again,' I cussed browsing through newsletters signed by Platydoras. 'Altered rules of sending out reports, a new list of bank offices where we can get our wages in the Silurian sub-sector.'

The only useful message among digests and bureaucratic spam was a mail by Fungata with a copy of the last threat sent by the heretic to Platydoras himself. Standard blackmail full of pathos ended with a strange phrase: 'black pard sails forth under black sails, and the chosen heir comes in his trail.' Yet Fungata herself wasn't aware of the meaning, writing briefly about some 'planned invasion,' and the bigger half of the letter, to my surprise, was dedicated to her standard admonishments and pious quotes like before.

I sent her a polite reply and gave a sign to Fluffster. When we got back to our quarters, I gave him the slate with the mail.

He shrugged his shoulders. 'Easy to guess if one knows the man.'

'You've learned something new about the blackred bastard?'

'The blackred bastard is a meaningless, worthless piece of crap like uncounted fools who join Chaos hoping for a royal reward,' he grunted with a frown. 'Catching these small thugs is your business, not mine.'

'So what are you going to share?'

'I'm talking about Sister's old nightmare. Prior to becoming the Pirate King, he was known as the Panther. Since the Heresy, he wears a custom suit of armour embellished with his pard totem.'

'So the chosen heir is...' I couldn't finish the phrase as the recalled name sent shivers down my spine.

'Black Crusades happen from time to time.' Fluffster patted my shoulder. 'Martian Magi live longer than most, and I've witnessed some in my past. Not as scary as summer children think.'

'The oncoming one is said to be the last.'

'Don't you doubt His Providence?' He asked in an unexpectedly kindly tone.

'The Emperor protects, Fluffster. No one else can protect us in this crazy world.'

I dropped in to the small mess in our compartment where Sister and Angel preferred spending their time far from the bridge. They mistrusted Tamias and didn't want to take part in our 'blasphemous and heretic' storytellings. They weren't as cross with me as after the spicy adventure of Myristica, but I had yet to subdue their growing paranoia. When I came in, they were talking quietly under a poster with Sanguinius Angel had hung on the wall.

'Uncle is spending so much time with this suspicious man.' Angel gave me a sour look. 'Please tell him to be careful.'

I tousled his fair hair. 'It's all for the sake of business, brother. He always knows what to do.'

'He should be more careful when making new friends anyway,' he replied stubbornly. 'Recall the accursed sorcerer you released from captivity.'

'Not the same old story again, please. You have to pluck up your courage, buds.' I lingered, still unwilling to face a shitstorm of clucking. 'We're likely to clash with the Pirate King soon.'

Sister froze with her eyes open wide. The old terror's sudden comeback.

'The Black Legion.' Angel clenched his fists, and I felt the famous bloody rage of his kin set his mind ablaze. 'Old foes again. Let my vengeful brothers meet him.'

'Filthy godless miscreants,' Sister's voice trembled. 'They slaughtered all the sisters and crew aboard. I hoped they would kill me too for I could join my wards at His side.'

'Let's stop talking about that.' I sat besides and hugged her. 'The Emperor wants you to live on to do more good in His name.'

Honestly, I didn't feel at ease when their vulnerable side came out. Their very occupation was meant to make them unyielding, and I'd never intended to be the elder sister to people older than me. Their kindness often warmed me up but I tried my best to improve their childish, prudish attitude.

'The navigator has caught the psychic trail,' I said chipperly. 'Let's get ready for a good merry skirmish. There's a big bounty promised for the blackred's heretic head.'

Tamias' warp drive was fast even for a customised smuggler vessel, and we continued to close the gap every day as his seasoned navigator led us through the fickle currents. I checked the auspex data twice a day. The captain had enhanced his augurs with some black market Eldar tech but I preferred ignoring the transgression as the device let us keep an eye on the foe.

Three days later, I noticed another object on the auspex screen. A bigger ship was probably trying to intercept our nemesis.

'Just let it be anybody but your colleagues or space marines.' Tamias couldn't help shivering.

'No way, Cap. I can tell an inquisitor frigate at once.'

'You're a big girl and do understand what it might mean for me.'

'Don't call me like that. I'm His wrath and justice,' I rebuked him with a phrase from Fungata's letter. 'You've been granted amnesty.'

'Your kind often overlooks decisions of one another. Nothing can stop them from just blowing us up.'

'Let your astropaths contact the frigate first,' I ordered.

In a few minutes of the choir's concentration the link was established. The other side replied almost at once. The frigate master's psychic projection appeared in the conversation room. A middle-aged man in a full set of power armour, he looked at me with certain mistrust.

'Who am I talking to?' he asked me without any greeting.

'Inquisitor Volentia, Botian Conclave of Ordo Hereticus, acting on the commission of Lord Platydoras.'

'Lord Inquisitor Kryptopterus, Ordo Xenos,' he named himself reluctantly when I showed him the rosette. 'I must warn you that your captain is wanted in six sub-sectors for illicit xeno trade.'

'The Conclave has granted him amnesty for his crucial role in pursuing the dangerous heretic we are about to engage,' I replied firmly.

'You're not the only one to have interest in his actions,' he said. 'I wish we could talk eye to eye aboard my ship if you don't object. The corridor will be ready soon.'

Once the portal door of the conversation room opened with a flash of warp-light, I stepped in under Uncle's warning gaze. Kryptopterus was standing at a table with piles of flash drives and books, his arms crossed on his crude breastplate. A sage acolyte was browsing data files on a large cogitator. Kryptopterus dismissed him with a nod and led me to the chairs at the back wall.

'So young and already leaning towards the Radical side,' he said half-jokingly. 'I've found an account of your previous missions in the sector digests. Efficiency above all, but you should be more careful about choosing allies.'

'I'm mostly trying to avoid dubious actions.' I pressed my hand to my burning face. 'This one is an emergency measure because the smuggler is a single clue to solving the case.'

'Now you've got another one. Our Ordo has been watching over the discovery of Necron worlds in the sub-sector. There have been some cases of smugglery one of which led to the tomb-world's activation.'

'So that's what he's seeking.'

Kryptopterus scrolled down a long list of files. 'We've got a few reports about planned sales of xenotech, and our psykers have detected motion on the warp route to the tomb-world system.'

'It would be wiser to act together than to compete over the catch,' I said in my most friendly tone.

'I was going to say that. We will intercept him either on exiting the warp or on the surface if he's quicker than us. It will take him time to find the artifact storage and do the burglary. Your retinue isn't too big but all of them are combatants and can be of great use, especially the Blood Angel.'

'My Magos has had experience of investigating xeno worlds.' I didn't feel much comfortable about his degree of knowledge of my personal matters.

'Perfect. I'll give you a copy of the draft map for him to correct or give any other ideas.'

Back on the smuggler ship Fluffster examined the draft thoroughly making notes in the dataslate.

'The world has two storages.' He pointed at green marks on the holographic map. 'A hundred miles apart.'

'So we'll land at the northern one, and Kryptopterus at the other.'

'Let's better choose the one with a dolmen gate nearby,' Fluffster suggested. 'Our ship is too small to risk.'

'Have you served with Ordo Xenos before?' I winked. 'I doubt even your colleagues know how to operate one.'

'I've wandered across the galaxy for some time. That has only made me weary as you can see,' he grumbled and turned back to the map.

Our foe left the warp next day, and we followed. A few lifeless planets orbiting a dying sun. I tried to imagine how it had looked countless millennia before when fabled silvery cities glimmered with viridian lights on the surfaces and armadas of alien ships embarked into the void. Time is relentless. Palaces and towers of the slumbering ancients had been buried in dust when our most distant ancestors were yet to be be born.

Visiting a xenos world for the first time we another action discouraged by strict Puritans I hadn't done yet. As its owners were relatively quiet if not disturbed, I hoped that wouldn't lead to dramatic consequences.

'The scoundrel has managed to outrun us,' I heard Kryptopterus' voice in the vox as the owl was descending to the tomb-world's surface. 'Presence undetectable. Most likely unknown xeno or chaos technology.'

'He's already down there?'

'Most likely. My escorts are trying to locate his vessel. I'm almost there with two kill-teams.'

The owl landed, and I walked out to the barren land. I scanned the vicinity with the auspexes of my space suit. No motion detected. Pitch-black starry heavens expanded above the eerie outlines of ziggurats and monoliths barely protruding from meteor dust. A large metal construct reminiscent of a colossal gate stood on top of a hill, strangely unscarred by the millennia. A circle of land around its frame was completely clean. Green lightnings sparked and died out over the silvery metal, and from time to time gusts of unnatural wind rippled the layer of dust on the hill slopes.

We walked closer to one of the pyramids, thigh-deep in the dust. Fluffster led the way, his massive shape almost spherical in his custom space suit. Treacherous dust hid pits and slopes from sight, so we had to follow the green line traced along sidewalks and bridges by Fluffster's laser pointer.

'That's where he landed.' He showed at a patch of clean metal on the closest side of the pyramid. 'Must have had precise coordinates.'

'We're only a couple of hours late,' I grunted into the vox.

'Let's see how he's coped with the burglary then.'

A chain of footprints led from the patch to the top of the pyramid. Fluffster stepped onto the patch and slapped the air. A silhouette of a small lighter lit green on my helmet's datascreen.

'A smart ruse of invisibility,' Fluffster hummed. 'No wonder modern inquisitors barely remember this one.'

Angel activated his power claw, grabbed the bolter with the other hand and hurried to the top. Uncle cocked his gun, Sister took out the eviscerator. I moved on with my laspistol at ready, followed by Fluffster.

'He's inside.' Angel observed a neat hole in the pyramid wall. 'I'll enlarge it to get in.'

'Let me track him first,' I suggested. 'We must do a swift precise raid or we'll get a beating from the guards.'

Using psychic ability was unexpectedly hard in the presence of Necron constructs. I stumbled upon a null-field right on reaching out, and it resonated with a burst of sharp pain in my head.

'A gloom prism there.' Fluffster shook me by the shoulder.

I tried to look from the other side and soon caught a psychic trace in one of the inner corridors. A small soulfire coming out of the blank slumbering depth.

'He'll be out soon. Maximum readiness,' I ordered.

Minutes passed, and nothing happened. The little flame got stuck in one of the inner chambers. I shivered at a sudden bad feeling. The guards had found him before we could. I concentrated as hard as I could to get a more detailed vision.

A dazzling warp explosion blinded my psychic sight. I collapsed onto the slope clutching my head.

'Some... sorcery,' I wheezed out to my retinue.

'I'm breaking in.' Angel dug his claw-blades into the silvery metal.

As he was mauling the wall, my vox came alive.

'He's back to the ship leaving the system,' Kryptopterus shouted. 'Embark as fast as you can. We're setting off to catch him.'

'A damn portal.' I clenched my fists. 'We've been cheated by a simple trick. I should have guessed that, after the sorcerous adventures.'

Green lights started flickering under Angel's claws, and the whole pyramid shook with motion.

'Back to the owl, now!' I cried out getting back to my shaky feet.

Angel grabbed me and ran down the slope along with the others. A gust of mighty wind hit us. The dolmen gate's colossal leaves were flung open. Clouds of eerie darkness floated all over the hill, and viridian energy discharges cracked ceaselessly as they moved. The earth beneath shuddered at the heavy pace of marching soldiers.

Right between us and the owl the veil of whirling darkness parted with a lightning flash. A gaunt, intimidating silhouette taller than the marine stepped out of the shroud raising an ebon-dark staff over the head. Arcane symbols lit on the staff head. A wave of swirling shadow-mist darkened our vision, and we all froze in overwhelming terror.


	3. II

My heart throbbed madly as if leaping out of my chest. Tears rolled down my cheeks pooling in the lower part of my helmet. Undescribable panic and despair bound me to the ground, and I felt too weak to move my limbs. In my vox I heard Angel's heavy breath and Sister's muffled sobbing. Nothing could be seen around but impenetrable gloom. An only thought whirled round in my mind. When the necrons kill us, we won't have to explain our behaviour to the Conclave.

A mighty, inhuman bass voice sounded from the vox dynamics speaking to us in an unknown language, and, to my surprise, Fluffster answered. The attacking xenos's tone was stern and accusing. Fluffster spoke slowly and politely. A seemingly feminine alien voice joined the conversation, and I felt the intonations soften a bit.

The grip of eerie panic loosened, the darkness melted. We were surrounded by a host of skeletal robotic warriors, and their fearsome leaders towered over Fluffster's round shape. My first encounter with xenos I'd been taught to fear and hate. The aftermath of the shock had suppressed all emotions and indoctrination catch phrases, so I stood still, too haywired to be afraid, while my brain kept on calculating the outcomes. One of the Necron commanders was the dour manipulator of terrifying shadows, the other had a metal body as tall but leaner and more elaborately crafted. I recognized the majestic appearance of dreaded Overlords. The Overlord's emerald eyes were ablaze under the glowing crown as he - or she? stood leaning on an ornate warscythe.

The Overlord's companion stepped forward and raised the dark staff again.

'Children of a younger race,' he addressed us in dated but perfect High Gothic. 'Bow down to Her Invincible Highness Phaerakh Nebetnesert of the Menkhet Dynasty, prostrate in terror before the Overlady of a dozen lords, Commander of sixty generals, tremble in the presence of the Illustrious Heiress of Leonine Kings, Stormgale of Might, Lightning of Wrath, Trusted Sword-hand of the Silent King.'

'So my mentor lied to me when he said Necrons were quiet,' I whispered into the inner channel of the vox.

'We won't yield to the foul xenos,' Angel said back. 'Let's show them the Emperor's ire even if it takes our lives.'

'We'll die as martyrs in His name,' Sister muttered sobbing, 'and He will welcome us in His Kingdom.'

'Shut up, you frigging dumbass fanatics,' I snarled. 'Put me down to the ground, brother, and not a bloody single move without my direct order. We still have our business to do before we die.'

There was nothing to lose. I came closer to the leaders and greeted them with a ceremonious nod.

'We are children of the Emperor and bow down to no kings, Your Highness, but we are willing to have a peaceful talk with due mutual respect.'

'What has it come to - younger squatters of our domains dare to speak to us as equals.' There was discontent in the first necron's voice but the Phaerakh stopped him with a gesture.

'We may not break the Silent King's will, human,' she addressed me. 'We will do you no harm by his promise. We've got the storage report and we do not blame you for the theft.'

'An enemy of ours has done it, Your Highness. We are here just to stop him.'

'You've failed,' the queen's lieutenant grunted.

'My Cryptek is unforgiving and quite old-fashioned.' I bet I could hear a shadow of a smile in the Phaerakh's tone. 'But we are ready to settle the matter in return for a favour from you.'

'Only if it isn't against our honour and duty.'

'I pay respect to the others' honour, human. You will have to find the burglar and return what is ours.'

She turned to her cryptek and nodded. Her alien grace was impressing even in a fleshless, gaunt metal frame. She reminded me of fairytale queens and princesses we young girls had desired to look like back in the orphanage.

At her sign he raised the staff again, and darkness condensed around us. When it disappeared, we all stood in a majestic silvery hall lit by countless emerald lamps. The perfect geometry of angular vaults and columns gave it an air of ascetic harmony. Palaces and cathedrals of human worlds were exquisite and ornate but it would take millions of years to reach that flawless simplicity of style. Ten times as vast as the great Librarium of the Ordo citadel on Uebotia, the hall was filled with display shelves and strangely shaped massive containers. The Phaerakh pointed at a gaping hole above.

'He used our own tools. Got in to steal one of my dynasty's gems.'

Meteor dust was falling on the lockers and lamps from the spot of ink-black sky above. A battered container lay on the floor next to a destroyed display shelf, a few odd pieces scattered here and there. The cryptek picked them up and joined them into a small glowing cube like puzzle pieces.

'He has probably been instructed by our old rivals,' he grumbled. 'He knew what to steal.'

'What's that?' I walked closer to have a look at the thing.

'A Webway map from before the Great War,' the Phaerakh replied. 'Of a part rarely explored even by the Aeldari.'

'Do not even think of peculating our property.' The cryptek's unblinking gaze met mine. 'The sage will remain our hostage till we recover the map.'

'Maybe we could discuss the terms,' I suggested.

'The sage will remain our hostage,' he repeated. 'Dare not to argue, human.'

'We're supposed to deliver the map back to this world?' I asked in the most business-like tone.

'You would better avoid taking it,' the cryptek said. 'You will be given implements as a favour from Her Highness.'

He walked up to a large metal closet the size of a truck and opened a few of its multiple drawers. In a minute he approached me with a rectangular box. When he pressed a glowing sigil on the side, the lid slid aside, and I saw a silvery oval with a green point in the center. He pressed the rune again and overturned the box. In the other section there were two leaf-shaped thin blades set in living metal. A glimpse of their obsidian surface felt like a gust of chilly wind that reached me through the suit. Null-power of blackstone chips, of Lady Cichlasoma's speartip.

'A beacon to stick to his vessel for we could track it,' said the cryptek. 'Two shard-daggers of a strike powerful enough to hit any foe you encounter. But you bear the mind-gift, the sage has warned us, so beware - you can use each one but once before the shard leaves its frame.'

Fluffster shook his head.'You leave them without my counsel, Lord Savant.'

'There is a way, human sage.' The cryptek looked into a few more drawers and finally took out a small device little different from a vox bead. 'The only one that will work on her. Unfortunately, it has charge enough for a single call. For the direst of emergencies.'

I hid the gifts in a pocket and hugged Fluffster.

'Hope we'll meet again.'

'We surely will, Volentia. You're grown-up enough to complete this on your own.'

'Get back to your duties then,' the cryptek ordered and waved his dark staff.

We all found us back in the owl. I launched the return program and flopped onto my seat.

'Wonders never cease,' Uncle said his first phrase since the landing. 'And you didn't believe me when I told you the rodent is no simple man.'

'The Mechanicus have more licence than other Adepta,' Angel replied, 'but that's outright dubious at best. He has obviously consorted with the xenos' High King before.'

'Wait,' I recalled one of old inquisitorial digests displayed in Platydoras' office. 'Your Commander has fought alongside the Necrons once. It has been made the monthly debate topic.'

'My company wasn't present there,' he said sourly. 'But the Tyranids are an exceptional condition.'

'We're in quite exceptional conditions as well. It may sound radical, even heretical, but to my mind, chaos stuff deals way more problems than those xenos blokes. I'm from Ordo Hereticus, after all, so pursuing heretics is the primary task. And... obviously I'm not the only one using their weapons. Lady Cichlasoma's spear looks exactly the same as the blades in the box.'

I tried not to let my concern about the cricetid poison my thoughts. Too much undercover unusual skills and connections. Seasoned Inquisitors and xenos lords talked to Fluffster as to an old acquaintance. Magos Tetraodon, the Explorator tech-priest I'd met on Auriglobus, was in no way odd or secretive. A seasoned tinkerer proud of his craft and knowledge. I decided to ask Kryptopterus if there were claims against Fluffster in their archives but realised I didn't even have his real name. Cricetus Crinitus by documents, Fluffster by nickname. There was another cricetid, Cricetus Persinicus, or Peachy, but I had seen him just once in Corydoras' company.

'Brother, was there a cricetid named Peachy present when you were sailing aboard the Morning Glory?'

'I don't remember any cricetids there.'

Anyway, I had a reason to catch up with Kryptopterus as soon as possible. I had to be careful not to provoke unnecessary attention to my retinue though. Many questions, many problems.

Tamias was surprised to see Fluffster missing.'The fellow was the smartest among us.'

'He's left to rap some personal matters with his metal buddies. So you have to turn on steam for he could come back.'

'What's up with the blackred bastard then?'

'Sneaked away with his prize. This means the chase continues if only the Ordo Xenos man hasn't...' I stopped and cussed.

Kryptopterus had turned into an unaware rival by now. If he snatched the map first, I would have to choose between Fluffster's life and my Inquisition loyalties. That's how many radicals turn traitors. That's how my mentor could have fallen, I shivered. Good Emperor, just don't let it happen.

'Tell the navigator to hurry up, Tamias. We have to catch him first by all means.'

'I'd advise you to abandon Fluffster and ditch the crons, but they're even more likely to crack down on you than the cops,' the smuggler grunted with a sigh.

I could no more enjoy the simple delights of our life aboard, and it seemed that the very atmosphere on the vessel had turned much nervous and strained. Tamias was less talkative, spending most of his time in his quarters, and always reeked of booze when he went out. He blamed us for having got him into the mess with the Necrons but didn't dare to say it openly.

The navigator had put a tail on both vessels but despite all his efforts they were still a day ahead. Kryptopterus had even managed to close the gap and was about to engage Blackred DM in about two days.

A terrifying psychic scream awakened me in the middle of the night. The entire vessel was trembling, filled by deafening terror and despair. I turned the switch. The room was still pitch dark. Sirens howled far away on the bridge. The living quarters' systems had jammed. I put on my clothes and armour and started banging on the closed door. In a minute Angel released me from my unexpected prison, and we all ran along the unlit corridor towards the bridge.

Red emergency lamps flickered under the ceiling, on the Machine Spirit's dome, on the door of the navigator's chamber. All other lights were down. From time to time the inset dynamics repeated the same terrifying warning:

'The vessel has deviated from the planned route. Unable to support the systems. Gellar field generators damaged.'

'Tamias, you smuggler bastard, what the crap has happened?' Uncle roared, running up to the command throne with a gun in his hands.

'Psyonic mine,' Tamias' voice was weak as he approached us on shaky legs, clutching his smashed head. 'I wish I knew who's the bloody kingpin he's serving.'

'So what can we do now?' I asked.

'Pray to the Emperor, dearie. The navigator has passed out. The psychic explosion has overloaded the generators, and they'll be down in a few minutes. Do you count as a priest? Or can I confess my sin to the nun or the Angel?'

'A dark secret?' I clenched my fists in feverish reflexions.

'The one you have wished to know since we embarked. Me and the blackred guy were accomplices. He promised me cities of gold for helping him to kill his Inquisitor twin brother. He shot him right on the spot where you're standing, and I dumped the corpse into the ship's reactor.'

'Go on.'

'So you understand that no promises of amnesty could make me feel safe after such confessions.' He gave me a crooked smile. 'He made use of the rosette to condemn me. A smartass who never pays his debts. I agreed to your offer to settle the matter and, to be honest, to get rid of the clues. Soon I'll answer to the Emperor in person.'

'I will keep to my word as a few minutes won't change your fate anyway,' I said dourly. 'Waiting for justice in terror is a good penance for your crimes.'

'Critical damage. The generators have been switched off,' the metallic voice sounded as a harbinger of doom.

The bridge contours started flowing slowly, aether winds broke in blowing away magazines and flash drives from the tables. Warp-glow lit the dark place with eerie colours, psychic frost covered walls and columns one by one.

I hid my hands in the cloak, Angel had put on the helmet to shield from the piercing cold. Sister was shivering in her sleeveless robe, so Uncle wrapped his scarf around her bare shoulders.

Aether mist had condensed in remote corners slowly forming distorted humanoid shapes. Androgynous silhouettes rose up dancing, reaching out with their clawed limbs and writhing tentacles, coming closer step by step. I put my hand in the pocket to touch the smooth surface of the box. Would be stupid to use the blades while we still have other weapons.

Angel fired his bolter at the daemonettes as we stood in a circle around the bleeding captain. Sister started chanting prayers to the Emperor swinging her roaring chainblade. I cut off a few tentacles with mine but the daemon only giggled as its pink ichor splashed over my carapace and burned holes in the ceramite.

Heavy, vertiginous perfume smell filled the air numbing our senses. The daemonettes were still dancing around, as graceful as repulsive in their fluid motion, singing their foul enchantments, promising endless pain and pleasure to us trapped in the warp. Two appeared in the stead of every one fallen under the bolter fire. Far in the corridors, an even more hideous shape appeared in clouds of violet mist. Lutetia's disgusting sibling has arrived following its lusty heralds.

I grabbed my purity seal and whispered the first words of the Death Incantation written on it. That's how it ends. We have failed you, Fluffster. Two daggers for a whole horde.

Heavy boots thumped on the metal floor behind me, and a familiar husky voice shouted,

'Bugger off, you dirty daemon-scum!'

'Your tricks again, Imudon's godless skank?' I heard Uncle's indignant voice and turned back.

The daemonettes scattered squealing. There stood the cursed ship's captain, her hands crossed, two abominable daemonhosts towering behind. The deck around her was no more ours but the interior of her vessel.

'Plenty of this scum has tagged along with Aphedron.' She kicked a daemonette that swung its claws on her. 'It's not the time to be rude, hired gun. I have a proposition from Lord Imudon.'

I glared at her. 'The damn preacher is still stalking me.'

'Your bad luck doesn't bother me. I'm sticking to my own list of duties.'

'What does the bastard need now?'

She sneered. 'He has sent me to pull you out of this warp asshole in exchange for a favour.'

'Every filthy xenos and heretic makes their damn demands,' I growled.

'Be grateful I'm talking to you at all.'

'What if I said kiss my ass?'

She showed me her middle finger. 'I've been ordered to take you away by force anyway. And your buddies will be left in the daemons' sweet company to have all their holes explored till the One gets up from His Golden Throne.'

'We might find other ways to strike a bargain.'

'I don't want back to the First Acolyte's dungeons,' she hummed.

'So what does he want from me?' I gave up.

'We'll travel to recover a treasure from a lost craftworld. Lord Imudon has paid a good price to the Magnificent to assist you in the quest.'

A trip in Aphedron's company didn't sound like a promising pastime but I couldn't lose the only chance to help my companions.

'If only you believe I'm able to.'

'It's not my matter of concern. Deal?'

'Deal.'

I remembered about Tamias. 'What about the smuggler?'

'I'll let his vessel get out of the warp as soon as you board.'

'You're kind for a cop,' Tamias wheezed out.

'I pay my debts unlike your former buddy. But you'd better keep away from now on,' I warned him.

'No doubt, m'lady.'

The daemonic ship was no place I was eager to visit for a second time. Its twisted pathways and cells reeked of warp filth. The wordless abominable crew stared at us with their eyes sewn shut but I felt the malign spirits inside their broken bodies follow every our step. Cultist mobs, the only signs of human presence on the horrible vessel, had vanished. Luckily, we didn't go to the abominable prison cells of sheer darkness. She led us to the bridge and climbed up to the navigator platform.

She tore off her eye patch with a brisk move as she approached the helm. Warp-flame lit in the empty socket, and the daemon inside her uttered a mocking shrill laugh. I looked down at the bloodstained floor whispering prayers when the ship took off, and the rune-inscribed walls came alive with uncolours of the warp.

Aphedron the Magnificent appeared strolling on the bridge, almost naked save his opulent jewelry and purple mantle. His alluring grace seemed to have even waxed since the adventure in the Casbah. He lowered to one knee before me and took me by the chin. I clenched my teeth and jerked back as he ran his serpentine tongue across my lips.

'You've been missed, honey,' he crooned.

I slapped him across the face but he only smiled showing his sharp mutated teeth.

'I thought the grenade sent you straight to your lewd deity, whoremonger.'

'I'm Aphedron the Magnificent. Do you believe I'm destined to perish in such an inglorious explosion?'

Sister hid behind Angel's back when Aphedron turned to them. Angel activated his power claws. Uncle stepped forward.

'I've scared the sweet little ones,' Aphedron laughed. 'Come closer so that I could kiss your sweet innocent faces.'


	4. III

We retreated to a secluded room far from the captain and her crew to avoid their suppressing presence as much as possible. Sister hung her Aquila pendant over the rotten cots, and filth melted where the holy symbol touched the wall, giving way to clean metal. She was eager to spend most of the travelling hours in quiet prayer or pious reflexions.

'Exactly the same crap as last time,' Uncle lit the last cigar from his box. 'It'll drive me mad if I get to this warped bucket once again. At least a room of our own, not the prison decks packed with drugged scum.'

'The Emperor has punished us for disobeying His will,' Sister sobbed. 'We shouldn't have taken the impure xenos gifts.'

'Anyway I won't cower before Imudon any longer.' I felt sinister joy when I touched the daggers hidden under my breastplate. 'I will pierce his heart next time he dares to approach me.'

Angel nodded with approval. 'The Word Bearers are the most accursed of the traitor legions. They have planted the seeds of the whole Heresy.'

'If we survive by His mercy, please let it be the last suspicious venture,' Sister gave me a sad look.

'Service with Volentia's late mentor was tenfold as suspicious,' Uncle sighed. 'I've got used to shady stuff, those who went on shouting about heresy didn't live long.'

'Irredeemable heresy must never be justified or even tolerated.' Angel made a stern face.

'Please say something apart from the textbook your chaplain forced you to learn by heart after dinner,' I snapped wearily.

'We won't abandon you, Volentia. We just cannot but care for your vulnerable soul,' he replied gently. 'You'd better ask me or Sister when the world tempts you with dubious opportunities.'

'You should think of the Emperor first. Whether He would approve of your actions.' Sister folded her hands in the sacred sign. 'We are ready to sacrifice our lives for Him and for you.'

'You'll sacrifice yourselves no earlier than get my order to do so.' I slapped on the cot. 'I need you alive. You're the only family I have.'

'Good, kind wee angels. The Emperor has sent you both right from Heaven to care for us sinners.' Uncle kissed both Angel and Sister on the forehead, and I saw tears in his eyes. Soon some of them will break down after another accident.

Time passed uncounted on the cursed vessel. Uncle was getting more nervous as he had little to do, and he often paced to and fro across the room cussing and clenching his fists. He had disassembled, cleaned and reassembled almost every weapon we had, scraped my carapace clean and even made a few patches where Daemonette ichor had burnt it, then repaired our tattered garbs.

'Sick of this senseless, endless drifting with uncertain perspectives,' he grunted.

'Quite certain, but you won't like them for sure,' I grumbled in response.

The commission had arrived in such haste that I didn't have time to purchase books or needlework supplies I usually brought to long travels. Bored by monotonous cussing and whining of my crew, I finally peeped out of our quarters.

Our unkindly host was sitting on her command throne in the same gruesome company of decaying possessed sailors as twisted landscapes of the warp were floating by. Aphedron strolled before the throne juggling his kine-blades and catching them one by one.

'The most cumbersome thing ever.' He let one of the daggers stick into the seatback millimeters from the shipmistress' head. 'A fashionable cruise across the Sea of Souls.'

She ignored the tease. 'You've been paid enough so as not to kvetch about the tedious journey.'

'The Panther will ease our boredom soon.'

'Another time you'll try to cut your friendly rival's throat.'

'A tricky fellow, that tomb-raider heretic. He's just escaped with the relic from the excess attention of two Inquisitors let alone the metal sleepy blokes. What a royal acquisition for the old pirate.'

I pricked up my ears. A weak beam of light flickering in the end of my tunnel.

'It's nothing but a map.'

'His hunt for the map has got your boss into a fine scurry.'

Aphedron picked up his blades and walked off the bridge as the captain didn't catch the conversation. I followed him quietly hoping to learn more. Once the bridge was lost to sight, the Slaaneshite stopped and turned backwards.

'You miss my magnificence, honey?'

'Just out for a few minutes to stretch my legs,' I tried to sound relaxed.

He flashed his mutated teeth in a salacious smirk. 'You mean spread.'

Sudden fright gave me chills. It took me an effort not to reach for my laspistol. I mustn't show him my anxiety.

'Feeling kinda stale after the risky chase. The blackred bastard has snatched the xeno-bauble right under from our noses.'

'My adventurous friend has already made use of it. And probably of your unlucky pal as well.' Aphedron pushed the mess-room door and waved his hand.

'Wonder why it's worth that fuss at all.' Growing hope cheered me up, and I sat down on the mess couch next to the Chaos warlord.

'I could tell you if you're eager to listen,' he crooned, his arm on the back of the couch.

'If you're so kind.' I smiled back; there must be a way to transport the beacon to the Panther's ship if the map was there.

'A long, long time ago,' he started in a dramatic storytelling tone, 'the knife-eared folk have escaped the doom of their empire aboard great craftworld ships, and one of them was called Iarmailt. It meant Sky, but they renamed it Crooked Sky when aether broke in and flooded the vessel forever shifting its shape. An ancient warrior from one of countless worlds afire with the last battles of the Old Night found his way to Iarmailt, armed with a precious weapon surpassed only by the blade of Warmaster Horus. It took years and armies to seal him inside his dreadful palace on Crooked Sky, and many have ventured there to retrieve the sword, only to be devoured by its deranged wielder.'

The story flowed on as an enthralling tune. His hand slipped from the couch back to my shoulder, than to my knee. I prepared to leave.

'Thank you for the most captivating tale. I'm afraid my friends miss me already.'

'No need to hurry.' A shark grin distorted his handsome features. 'We could continue the talk in a better environment.'

'Next time,' I said politely but firmly.

'I feel so bored and lonely in my quarters. I bet pastime in your retinue's company can never be even a bit as alluring as the precious favour of Aphedron the Magnificent.'

A tentacle wrapped around my wrists before I could reach for my weapons. Aphedron leapt to his feet and lifted me like I was nothing. The purple mantle fell off to the floor.

'I will cry out to my fighters,' I hissed in anger kicking him in the ribs.

'Delicious pain,' he murmured. 'Call your sweet little ones, dear. They will enjoy the pleasure of pain as much as you.'

'Save me, good Emperor,' I whispered as psyonic haze dulled my vision.

'I'm one of His fair Children.' His sharp teeth bit my ear.

'Hands off her, you lecherous prick!' the Captain's voice yelled all of a sudden. 'I'm still aware of all that happens aboard this damn dingy. Lord Imudon has forbidden to harm her.'

'The overage virgin preacher would have cut off everyone's manhood for the sake of his complexes,' he snarled. 'I've told you I'm bored beyond measure. I won't do her too much harm, don't worry.'

'Hands off her. Or the First Acolyte will meet you upon your return.'

He released me, and I flopped back to the couch.

'I'll get a grip on myself then.'

I wiped my forehead with a sleeve, still panting.

'You sick of life, or what?' she growled when he left.

'My friend's life depends on the damn map,' I sighed rubbing the bitten ear. 'All of you heretics are a bunch of sick freaks.'

She sat next to me. The touch of her aura was disgusting: old torment, old sorrow, and overall the psychic rot of daemonic taint. I twitched and recoiled unwillingly.

'So squeamish, you squeaky-clean,' she grunted. 'They've taught you little apart from how to screw your nose.'

'I'm not a living saint but not a daemon-consorter either.'

'You've grown up in some neat place where you mostly clasp your hands in indignation and quote pious nonsense you don't understand.'

'What do you know about me? My late mentor was a dangerous, unscrupulous heretic who was short from getting me killed.'

She frowned. 'And what do you know about me? Where were you born?'

'I don't know for sure,' I admitted. 'My earliest memories are of the now ruined orphanage on a small resort world.'

'Resort world,' she sneered. 'A bloody resort world. My own homeworld had neither trees nor seas. There was no sun either. You've seen it with your own eyes.'

'You were born... in the shrine?' I scratched my temple in disbelief.

'No children are born there. Maybe I was given away by my parents in exchange for some worldly goods. Maybe I was brought there with other hapless ones caught in a slave raid. But I don't remember anything besides the rock-burrows where we lived and the shrine vaults where we did our service. We grew up under the gaze of the Four, taught to please them by our cruel gaffers.'

I didn't know what to say back and just nodded. To my surprise, she spoke completely different from her usual brief rude remarks. She screwed up her face as she noticed my astonishment.

'We were many. Most died quickly, but more arrived instead. We grew up in packs, overseen by cultists who treated us like crap but trembled before the real master of the place.'

'My sworn enemy.' I touched the breastplate where the daggers were hidden. After the scary talk in the undervaults I wasn't sure she mentioned Imudon.

'Imudon seldom stayed there for long at all. His First Acolyte reigned over the shrine and the vicinity, the only one to stay inside when the gates were sealed between sacrifices. The one to choose the most promising of us children. Those who could subdue the others, who killed the others, who could manipulate the others. The youths he deemed worthy were bending over backwards to please him even more. They offered their sacrifice and joined the cultists. Most slaughtered their own packmates, but there were some who ventured out to slave raids or murdered cultist priests. Everything was allowed as long as the gods were pleased. But if someone ever did anything the Four disdained...'

She stopped and took a deep breath.

'Like what?' I asked.

'I'd hate to remember what happened to the others. My own transgression was born out of a childish dream. One of the captives dared to tell us about the real world where there was a sun. The First Acolyte's shadows took him away for the next sacrifice. But I was breakneck enough to dream of escaping the place. I even managed to befriend a few of my peers though it was quite discouraged. We had to compete, not to cooperate. Surprisingly, my little scheme of collective escape mostly amused the overseers. A nascent Tzeentchian talent, maybe.'

'And you engaged in worshipping the Changer of Ways?'

She shook her head. 'The First Acolyte invited me to the altar nave one day. That was a sign of great approval, with a likely perspective of ascension.'

'To a daemon princess?'

'I don't know. We all had the mark, exactly like you, but few deserved to get the sign. They took their ultimate vows at the furthest altar, and we never saw them again.'

'Like me?' I froze in creeping panic. The mark the sorcerer had mentioned. The one that had let me avoid corruption by the witch-staff and made the ancient crystal turn black.

'I see things like that at once. That's why you're needed for some plans of Imudon and the Acolyte.'

'Let's better finish the story.' I clasped my cold hands.

'He opened one of the doors, and there was sunlight. And fresh air. And green plains. I was allowed to look out but not to step in. He proposed me a good rank among the servants and the opportunity to get out of there. But the price had to be paid.'

'Your soul?'

'I was raised with the thought my soul belonged to our legionnaire masters and the Four. He wanted my friends. He said I would be able to see them even after the ritual, and he didn't lie. We're still inseparable as you see.'

'Your... crew.' I shuddered at the guess.

She got up briskly and walked out in silence not even looking at me. The terrifying memories of the shrine came alive again, but the very idea of growing up in a place like that was more nightmarish than any of my raids or visions. Imperial upbringing might be harsh but we were taught to stand together. I'd spent my childhood in the safe feeling of the Emperor's loving presence. Encouraged to work and build, not to cut my peers' throats in endless rivalry for the fickle favour of the Ruinous Powers.

I shambled back in quite a sour mood, shivering at the awakened memories of the horrendous place and its masters. The memories of the pact I must never reveal to my team. When I had the necron shard-daggers at hand, I hoped to get rid of at least one of the gruesome-twosome. Too much to ponder over. The map's new owner, the mission weirdly impossible. A strange way for Imudon to get rid of me and the Slaaneshite. I decided my retinue shouldn't know what had happened to me in the mess. They would cluck me to death in a bout of anxiety.

A hideous daemonhost floated out of a side passage before me, and I felt sick recalling the captain's tale. Deformed, decaying bodies broken by their lifetime wounds and warp distortion. I plucked up my courage and glimpsed at the crewman's aura. Buried under daemonic un-thoughts, the remains of his torn soul cried out at another human's touch. Maddened by years of forced confinement, reduced to a lump of fear and suffering. Live fodder for the ever-hungry Neverborn.

'I'll set you free once I'm able to,' I whispered clenching my fists. 'I'll bring justice to the monster masters of the shrine.'

The bound daemon's malicious cackling resonated inside my head, and I leaned to the wall struggling against sudden vertigo. When I opened my eyes again, the daemonhost was gone.

My dreams were troublesome and feverish on that night and the following ones. One night, right before the 'daybreak' by our chronometer the captain herself came in without ceremony.

'We're in the Webway,' she announced. 'Tomorrow morning, if nothing happens to us, we'll reach Iarmailt. Brace yourself before the hardest fight in your life.'

I ventured out at once despite the warning sad stares of my friends.

'You may look at your steed,' she invited me to follow her. 'It will take time to reach the palace.'

'I have my owl. Enough for us all.'

She scoffed at my crew. 'No owl. No wimps of yours. I will keep them aboard so you'll have reasons to come back if you survive.'

'Metal pricks have taken Fluffster, you're taking the rest. And Imudon will kill them if I perish there.'

'I might release them if you don't return. But only if you promise to keep mumb about our talk in the mess.'

I gladly agreed, not trusting her words much though. She led me into a small closet next to the bridge. A creepy beast woven from condensed ethereal smoke was bound to the wall with heavy chains covered with nauseating sigils. It stared at me with multiple glowing eyes and uttered a bloodcurdling howl. Its glossy body the colour of flayed muscles and armed with spikes and clawed extra limbs, it looked remotely feline in shape and movements.

'A khymera.' The captain patted the beast's bone-white muzzle. 'Drukhari beastmasters catch and tame them, so you mustn't be too much afraid. At least while it has the enchanted collar on.'

'Sounds like an exciting ride,' I chuckled. 'Anyway it's safer than a Disk of Tzeentch.'

'Mine is fancier,' I heard Aphedron's cheerful voice.

He appeared on the bridge with an even more surreal mount on the leash. A Steed of Slaanesh paced next to its owner wriggling its serpentine body of pink and purple, its long tongue lashing out of the slender snout. Heavy perfume smell similar to the daemonettes' filled the air. The khymera roared and waved its back limbs.

'Where do you think you're going?' said the captain.

'I miss my old friend. Be so sweet to open the portal.'

'The Panther might storm my ship.'

'He won't deprive himself of a thrilling competition at the gates.'

I realised that was a risky chance I mustn't miss nevertheless.

'I feel like taking a look at my rival too,' I said as cheekily as I could.

The captain squeezed my shoulder but I didn't even flinch.

Aphedron grinned. 'It's been a while I visited him in an inquisitor's company. But every inquisitor I brought along didn't wear armour while with me, let alone clothes.'

'Time to change the customs,' I objected brazenly. 'Count me as a representative of your preacher buddy.'

'With an Aquila pendant on your chest and a rosette in your pocket,' he snickered. 'The Word Bearers would screech in anger when they learn who poses as their champion.'

'So you can't take me along, can you?'

'Come on if you're not as chickenshit as your pals.'

'Even the First Acolyte's threat might not protect you from the Panther,' the captain whispered to me. 'He's the unruliest one. Totally off his rocker.'

'Mind your own business,' I snapped dryly searching for the beacon scarab in my pocket.

The wall before the captain's throne flickered with warp-flame and split revealing a shifting passage. Aphedron tied the leash to the throne and gave me his hand with ironical courtesy.

'Hope you'll enjoy the splendid Macan Kumbang, honey.'


	5. IV

The Macan Kumbang was an ancient battle barge, noisy and gaudily decorated. The portal led to its massive bridge crowded by colourful, sassy rogue traders, mercenaries in peculiar armour, cultists and beastmen of every ilk. Here and there black-clad legionnaires of the Pirate King's warband towered over the hangers-on. His totemic leopard emblems were everywhere, almost replacing the grisly symbols of the Black Legion.

Dramatic, shrill music of flutes and drums sounded from a small open pavilion on one of the platforms once we entered the bridge. Aphedron pointed at the largest pavilion towering over a massive platform next to the oculus screen.

'He's waiting for us in his festive gazebo. I bet this is the first time you'll dine with two men as awesome.'

Proudly I climbed the winding ladder to the gazebo platform. Its columns and square roof were shiny red gold carved with wild animals. Inside the pavilion a half-naked giant lounged on pillows of brocade and gold. Heavier and bulkier than Aphedron, he was truly a leopardine predator in superhuman form. A loincloth of batik silk was held up by a bejewelled opulent belt, a massive necklace and wristbands of wrought gold glimmered on his bronze skin. Predacious allure embodied. Despite his regal looks, the old nickname of Panther fit him even better.

He greeted Aphedron with a lazy, majestic gesture. 'You're welcome under the roof of my pavilion.'

'A good feast before an even better raid,' the Slaaneshite answered with a rakish smile.

Aphedron sprawled on the pillows at a short-legged table. Before I could take my place, he grabbed me by the waist, and I tumbled over to the carpet between him and the Panther. I tried to sit up and almost bumped into the Panther's outstretched arm. A musky odor too familiar. He smelled of musk, amber and danger. Of the Casbah.

Aphedron pulled me back and seated me next to himself. He enjoyed the delicacies of the richly served table. The most luxurious reception I'd been to in ages. Heavy golden plates and bowls with chunks of meat, large cones of yellow turmeric rice, boiled eggs, colourful cakes and fruit. I took a handful of rice and a piece of glazed meat. So spicy it burned my tongue, the fancy dish tasted of ginger and lemons. When I cut a big orange fruit in half with my pen-knife, it burst with sticky juice.

'You've found a new Imperial slag.' The Panther stared at me haughtily. 'They're buzzing around us like bees round a honey pot. Why the hell she has armour on? Who is she gonna fight here?'

I swallowed the fruit piece and raised my head.

'I am an Imperial Inquisitor of Ordo Hereticus, and have arrived here as a warrior in my own right, not as a slut of this promiscuous chaos-worshipper,' I looked him straight in the eye. 'Dark Apostle Imudon has enlisted him as a sidekick for me, not the opposite.'

'Another pathetic wimp going by the pompous name of an Imperial Inquisitor,' the Panther sneered. 'They all think their imposing titles can shield them from us designed to rule. A flock of sheep in fake leopard hides trying to roar at the real predator.'

'She's threatening to snatch your trophy on the Crooked Sky.' Aphedron smirked. 'At least Imudon hopes so.'

'The holier-than-thou is getting too big in the head. Time to teach him a lesson. As for the wench, I'll get rid of her once I defeat the Beast of Iarmailt. Forgot to tell you, I've caught another of her kind before entering the Webway. First they wasted their peashooters' ammo on our cultist trash, then my lads butchered the weaklings to a man. The fellow himself was lucky on that day, but only because he's to become a snack for my steed on the way back.'

I tried not to give out my trouble and concern. Haste made bad service to my colleague.

'He might supply you with a few useful facts,' Aphedron said.

'That's the Headsman's business. Isn't talking yet, but it's a matter of time. You may help if you wish.'

'Have to go back early today. We're to arrive tomorrow, have you forgotten?'

'Hell. Anyway, doesn't matter. It's closer than ever. I will no more have to bow down to the drama queen calling himself Warmaster. I'm the bane of self-proclaimed tyrants, Imperial and Chaotic alike.' The Panther's face was twisted with vexation as he gritted his teeth.

'Aren't you concerned about his eyes and ears around?'

'The Magnificent seems to lose his petulant spirit.' The Pirate King showed his teeth in a mean grin. 'You've had a liking of this bunch of misfits. But I've been in the legion for millennia unlike you. Don't you think I don't remember how old dodderer Lupercal treated me? Did he value my power, my splendour? Did he count me among his trusted sons? I didn't even get a place I his friggin' Mournival of a hysteric, a whipping boy, a goody-goody and a clown!'

'I am known as Magnificent, not you.' Aphedron stretched on the pillows demonstrating his perfect body. 'So don't boast a victory you haven't won yet.'

'One more opportunity to decide who's the strongest.'

'I'm famous as a perfect fighter, not just a corsair mobster.'

'A duel in the craftworld will show.'

Despite the constant exchange of threats and insults, the general air of their conversation was quite friendly. More than a hundred centuries of rivalry-camaraderie had made them true equals in fearsome splendour.

I sat wordless on the edge of Aphedron's opulent carpet listening to the talk. The Slaaneshi warlord put his hand on my back I quite a licentious manner while he was picking snacks from the table with his tentacles. His relaxed swag was a thing to admire in its own chaotic way as well as his buddy's bulky yet graceful posture.

'You're so shy again unlike when you flash your rosette to petty heretics, dearie.' Aphedron leaned his face to me and put the hand on my knee.

'Observing is wiser than chattering,' I remembered Fluffster's favourite phrase.

'So you think you're wiser than us both. Neither me nor my dear friend doesn't deserve your precious respect?'

'You don't respect me either.'

Aphedron bared his teeth. 'Tell us why we should. Because you can shout 'Heresy!' with indignation? You're weak at fighting, boring at drinking, cowardly before any powerful foe.'

'Cowardly?' I took a deep breath. 'I ventured into the Casbah, the nightmarish shrine of Imudon, the Warsmith's barge.'

'Yet you squealed like a little bitch when I cornered you on the ship.' He bursted out with laughter. 'You tried to scare me with your whiny nun and the hawk-boy's pretty toddler son'

The Panther's laugh was a mighty roar.

'The hawk-boy had daughters, not sons. Exactly as your serpentine pops.'

'I can take out my blades and make you daughter of Horus.' Aphedron showed his middle finger to his drinking companion.

The Black Legionnaire put his hand on his power cutlass and replied with the same gesture.

'I've got a treat for you.' Aphedron took a little silken pouch out of a hidden pocket of his mantle.

The Panther licked his lips. 'The famous warp-dust of the Lubricious.'

'Let's taste it and leave a bit for the lady. I dare you show your bravery now, honey.' Aphedron winked at me emptying the pouch on the table. 'We'll be offended if you refuse.'

The Pirate King grabbed a pinch of the glittery dust and snorted it with a loud sniff. His eyes rolled up, his mouth opened wide in a gasp of excitement. Aphedron rubbed some dust into his shark jaw and stretched his limbs and tentacles in bliss.

I slipped under his arm before he could come to himself. A perfect moment to act. I ran down the stairs thanking the Emperor the pirate was too reckless to guard the pavilion properly. Down to the left was a drinking stall for the rogue traders. I sneaked there and snatched a cloak left on a chair. Now I was no different from the local loiterers.

I hurried through the crowd to the back part of the bridge far from the host. Planting a scarab would be relatively easy in such mess but I had at least to try to help Kryptopterus. I hid behind a side column, took the beacon scarab and pressed the silvery bug to the wall. Its green eye lit once it touched the wall. Thin legs protruded from its sides, and it crawled up with a humming sound. In a second it sliced through the metal surface and disappeared.

No one ever noticed that. With certain relief I leaned back against the wall and reached out with my psychic sight. Psykers were around in numbers, so I hoped my trace will be lost among many others. A faint trace of my comrade still lingered in one of the corridors, so I moved on scoping out the surrounding chambers and passages.

Soon my head was about to explode in the psychic cacophony of human and daemonic voices. Drugged visions mixed with enticing whispers of the Neverborn and howls of tormented souls. I ran forth trying not to lose the trail. Already close. Not only his trace but his presence.

I stopped seconds before I crashed into a legionnaire in apothecary gear. He was smoking a cigar at a metal door, his stubbly face relaxed and indifferent. He paid no attention to cultists sneaking around. A red star of Chaos was painted over the Prime Helix badge on his pauldron, and surgical tools mounted on his augmetic arm as well as his robe were daubed with dried blood.

The door opened, and I could hardly constrain my anger. Another marine pulled out the Lord Inquisitor, badly battered and bleeding from multiple wounds. The inquisitor's broken legs dragged behind him leaving a bloody trail.

'Haul him to the chamber,' the apothecary said, not even bothering to take out the cigar. 'The boss will be sniffing for half an hour more at least, and I need to finish my smoke.'

I grabbed one of my daggers by the hilt. No legionnaire can stand against this weapon. The other will be saved for Imudon. I slipped into the corridor when the apothecary turned away to shake off cinders, but a tentacle wrapped around my neck and tugged me back.

'Thank your Patron I've found you first,' Aphedron hissed binding me with his tendrils. 'If the Panther caught you over the body of his man, you'd join your pal in the Headsman's quarters. He doesn't give a damn about Imudon's warnings. Even if the priest arrived to the rescue, you'd become a chunk of mutilated flesh by then. And Imudon would take his disappointment out on my warband.'

'Get to work, you lazy bastard!' I heard the Pirate King yell at the apothecary. 'Every time I see you you're either smizzing or noshing.'

'Just found her,' Aphedron shouted. 'The lass has got a buzz after a sniff, so she's taken a notion to roam around.'

'A weakly spring chicken,' the Panther laughed back. 'I'll make use of the remaining hours to have a chat with her buddy.'

'Good luck then. Meet you in the craftworld, old fellow.'

My face was still flushed with resentment. I couldn't move neither my arms nor my legs in Aphedron's iron grip. The Slaaneshi warlord turned to me and slid his fingers up my thigh.

'How are you going to thank me for the rescue?' he crooned with a mean smile.

'I might leave you alive after we complete the quest.'

'You're too helpless to joke like that.' he squeezed my leg so hard I clenched my teeth.

'Remember the First Acolyte's promises,' I spat out.

'You know how to kill the fun,' he grunted. 'I'll release you as soon as we're back to our vessel lest you get into trouble again.'

My crew was waiting for me obediently in our quarters.

'We've started to worry already.' Sister shook her head, reproach in her sad eyes. 'You should have warned us if you left for that long.'

'I've just looked at my steed and had a friendly lunch. Look what I've brought you.'

I emptied my pockets of the delicacies I'd stuffed in on the barge while the Chaos Lords had been talking. Grilled meat, eggs, fruit.

'It might be poisoned.' Sister examined a slice of pineapple with caution.

Angel took an egg and bit on it.

'Safe. Thank you, sister.'

'Good that you care for us hapless captives, lassie,' Uncle sighed chewing on a piece of meat. 'Soon they will throw us down to that haunted xenos domain.'

'Please take that with self-possession,' I started. 'You will have to stay aboard while I'm busy with the artifact hunt.'

'Alone with Aphedron?' The marine frowned in indignation. 'He will defile and ravage you out of our reach.'

'The Dark Apostle has him by the balls,' I tried to sound confident. 'Just behave without your quirks of sudden holy fury.'

'What about Fluffster then?' Sister asked. 'He's still in great danger.'

'All you should know is that the beacon is on the pirate barge already.'

'You're so risky, lassie,' Uncle said. 'Take care at least on Iarmailt.'

I could barely sleep at all on that night, excited by the oncoming journey. Relatively monotonous warp travels usually brought a sharp desire to move on at last. I'd read much about the fabled Aeldari craftworlds but Inquisitors of my Ordo rarely get to places like that, spending their worktime in hive cities and mansions in search of a heretical conspiracy. Poor Kryptopterus had probably visited many haunting places already. The memories of his torments were poison in the honey. I could only hope Fluffster would be able to drag him out of prison.

When the captain dropped in, I was already fully geared for the venture. The Aquila pendant shone over my breastplate in defiance to the chaotic taint around. My chainsword and laspistol were in perfect condition, the necron daggers ready under the cuirass, the transmitter bead secured in my ear. I hugged my friends for one more time and put on my hat.

The khymera roared and dashed out of its cell when the captain unlocked the shackles. I approached the vicious beast with slow cautious steps but it just bumped its bony head against my shoulder like a big cat. I stroked its smooth spectral skin, and the khymera licked my gloved hand with its worm-like tongue. The captain put a saddle on the warp-beast's back.

'Jump on, Inquisitor. The portal will open in a few minutes.'

I was prancing around holding to the khymera's back limbs when Aphedron rode out to the bridge on his sinister mount, fully clad in his resplendent armour of purple, violet and gold. The daemonic whip was coiled at his hip, the flawless mantle streamed down his shoulders to the steed's flashy side. His silver hair was knotted for battle, and he carried a gold-crested helmet.

I scratched the khymera under the black steel collar to pacify it. The beast sniffed the air and walked to the portal wall. Aphedron trotted forward donning the helmet. Warp-flame flickered all over the surface again.

'Break a leg, you dungheads.' The captain waved her hand.

A mighty gust of wind hit us. Right before us a glimmering desert stretched to the crooked horizon, overcast with twilight gloom. The khymera wagged its spiky tail impatiently. A jump through the ring of spectral fire - and the cursed ship was lost to sight.


	6. V

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the spectral crags. The phantom moon was a ghostly ship in ethereal waves of mist. Only the road was winding as a ribbon of pale light over the sparkling expanse.

'And the highwayman came riding-riding-riding,' Aphedron's sonorous voice resonated far in the ominous silence.

'You haven't sung this song for centuries,' I heard the Panther's deep roar from behind.

'Just the perfect time.'

'When riding this gigantic purple rooster?' the pirate burst out laughing rudely.

'Suck it, you cheeky bastard.'

He overtook us at the next turn of the road. I hardly recognized him at all in a behemoth set of artificer armour vaguely similar to terminator wargear. The black and gold of his legion were mixed with glowing sigils of scarlet and purple. Monstrous predator beasts from the gates of the Casbah were carved all over the breastplate and pauldrons, and his helmet was a snarling leopard head with eyes of vermeil seer crystals. I looked closer at the sigils and felt a nightmarish conscience stir inside. The beasts stared back with their smouldering eyes.

His mount was larger and fiercer than the ours, a chitinous monster with massive jaws and multiple scythe-limbs reminding of both theroid guards of the cursed fortress and the dreaded Tyranid Carnifexes. The khymera sniffed it and dashed aside anxiously. I patted its neck and rode forward gazing at the place's inhuman beauty.

It surpassed every description from the Inquisition archives, even defiled and warped. In subtle twilight glow the remains of once splendid towers and arches sparkled and shifted nocturnal colours. Most of them had crumbled to fine dust during the centuries of desolation, the still standing ones no more than wraithbone rocks over the dust dunes. The ruins extended far away in impossible directions like whimsical coral reefs in night ocean and wind-sculpted crags of rock deserts.

There was silence. Faint psychic whispers touched my mind from time to time but faded the moment I heard them. The moon orb seemed to follow us across the sky-vault, its light drawing forth the narrow stripe of the only path through the haunted desert. Exactly as the warp-road in the sands only psykers could follow. It was hard to believe we were inside a spacecraft at all. What the once overpowering empire had been in old times, if even its tiny sparks are nothing close to things built nowadays?

'Do you know the way?' I turned to Aphedron.

'There's only one road here. Those who stray from its course are lost forever. Haven't you heard that?'

'So when are we to arrive?'

'At midnight. But hell knows when it's midnight in this twisted place.'

The gloaming was getting darker and colder. Deep blues and purples of the coming night had blurred all the outlines save the glistening river of moonlight streaming in unimaginable loops towards the crooked horizon. The orb had grown as well, its silvery surface reddened as if engorged with blood. The voices were louder with every turn of the road, and I felt eerie psychic gazes following us from the foggy depth.

'My gut tells me a posse is after us,' the Panther said.

'The knife-ears haven't appeared here for millennia,' Aphedron objected.

I thought about the necrons with certain relief.

'Look out better.'

'Some feeble warp-trace. But quite different from any eldars.'

A false hope. There were hundreds of vicious xeno broods in the Galaxy, and any of their kind could have decided to compete for the treasure.

'Good I've driven the main fleet away from the gate. I was afraid the Binturong wouldn't be whole and working till the very landing.'

'What's happened to your cruiser again?' Aphedron chuckled.

'Ahzek bloody Ahriman,' the Panther growled. 'The nutty bookworm has been trying to avenge one of his buddies since the Big Strike. Am I really guilty if that smartass Sobek didn't have enough brains to check the crap he was buying?'

'Ahriman's oracle told him you'd framed the man on purpose.'

'I'd tell him the same thing if he asked me,' the Panther gave out a mean snicker.

'I'm starting to think there was a catch in that Casbah business.'

Aphedron has just nailed it. The strange connection between the Panther and the sinister fortress was no random occurrence. His smell of musk and ambergris, his theroid mount, even his armour decorations identical to those of the cyclopean gates I still vividly remembered. He lured Aphedron into taking the fabled prize without claiming it for himself, and he obviously wasn't inclined towards philanthropy.

'Curious to hear the story about the sorcerers,' I said as if to catch the conversation.

'The birdies bought a fancy spell against the guards of a place they visited after but it worked against the sorcerers themselves even better,' Aphedron waved his hand.

'Torquetum.' A sudden guess popped up in my head. 'We both hunted Ruber Pimenta for the shard that had corrupted him and driven Glyceris mad. The Lutetia plot was of only use for Atlas to use the Greater Daemon to get into the fortress.'

'After my friend visited a forlorn temple on a xenos world, he lost his squad but gained a few curious features. Like this armour, strange spells or even stranger memories,' Aphedron chuckled.

'Shut up your mug,' the Panther stopped him. 'You may as well give up to the local Inquisition headquarters to tell tales like that.'

'Well, sir.' I turned the khymera towards the Panther. 'You were the Luna Wolf whom Angel told me about. His predecessor who survived in the shaded vale.'

'Another word, and I'll blow your brains out!' he bellowed all of a sudden. Musk wind from the ridge in the distance hit me in the face so I nearly fell off my mount.

'Honey, you'd better follow Kryptopterus's example when with my friend. Inquisitors are better at listening than talking,' Aphedron said mockingly.

'I can cope without his precious information,' the Panther snapped back as he was cooling down after a bout of anger. 'He'll get another chance to flip when I'm back but then my steed would be too hungry to wait.'

'How have you ever managed to capture him? You mostly avoid the Deathwatch.'

'I know their way of thought. A damaged sonic torpedo looted from an eldar ship shot to one of their docking modules. It didn't explode but the morons all rushed there so it was a matter of good timing to shoot off the module and launch a brief but violent raid to the bridge. We didn't risk the barge, the Biruang has got a few hits from the frigate and the smaller escorts but we were faster.'

'I bet you couldn't resist sending a few lurid vid-logs to his conclave.'

'Not fancy enough yet. I want them to see him sharing their private secrets with bloody snot and tears all over his smashed face.'

'Partying Plodia was a blast,' Aphedron laughed out loud along with his buddy.

'Hey you, weasel,' the Panther addressed me. 'How's that fat slut going?'

'She's not fat anymore,' I said dryly.

'But the latter hasn't changed for sure,' he jeered. 'How she was huffing and puffing and squealing when I was feeling her up at the table. I bet when her slick saw in the vid where she'd left her lipstick, she yelled like mad and smacked him on the head.'

I didn't want to listen to their slander against my comrades so I spurred the khymera and rode ahead. It was completely dark by now. The road still glimmered dimly but the bloated moon barely gave any light at all. It lingered on the black sky as a pile of crimson embers. The fog weaved on both sides of the road forming menacing shapes visible to the psyker-sight. I tried to reach out but reeled in my saddle hit by the warped world's backlash.

The khymera gave out a howl of distress. I clang to its neck, worn by the suppressing air of the place, dull pain buzzing in my midriff again. My chin touched the enchanted steel collar, and a sting of psychic pain in my heart made it skip a few beats. Imudon's filthy daemonancy. The warp-beast's howl sounded like weeping. I scratched its forehead between the top rows of eyes.

'A cute pussycat you've got.' Aphedron rode closer and touched the khymera's back limbs with a kinky gesture. 'The Aeldari claim its kind is born out of thoughts and dreams. You see what kind of dreams is mostly seen in our times.'

'It's a much better beast than both yours. Not a vile daemon at least.'

'Aether-creatures are numerous in quiet corners of both the Immaterium and the Webway. The White Seer told me one day about how the Fifteenth had tried to tame them as their tutelaries. Unfortunately, they could be corrupted too easily without due control.'

'Not a word about the Cyclops' smarty pants boys,' the Panther grunted. 'I can swear it's friggin' Khayon who has turned the Despoiler against me. It was he who allowed Ahriman to attack me unpunished. He once called me stupid right to my face, and the Despoiler laughed along with his gang.'

'I've never had a liking for that man either,' Aphedron nodded. 'He'd been reading his dusty books for centuries while the others were dying on battlefields for the Warmaster. The White Seer at least had an excuse to sit still on his butt.'

'The albino is a fine chap. I even tried to persuade him to conspire against Khayon together but he told me to bugger off. I heard not long ago, he's back to the Vengeful Spirit.'

'That's because the Fleetmaster got sick of the Despoiler. He decided to find better use for his naval talents. He'd held on for much longer than the rusty granny of Gallium though.'

'I feel pity for Ilyaster most of all. The Despoiler's company has driven him into an incurable depression. He should have accepted my invitation.'

'You might take along the Black Lion if he hasn't fled yet,' Aphedron suggested.

'I don't feel like running from his obsessed brethren.'

'Maybe one day I' find a job at yours as well. The Masked Prince still has good memories of me.'

I got tired of their chatting about people I didn't know and wouldn't probably ever meet in person. The posse was overtaking us, getting closer at every turn of the road. They'd got so near our mounts could feel their hostile presence among the local warp cacophony. I checked my weapons and looked back into the impenetrable gloom. The road vanished a few steps away if it was a carpet rolling up behind our backs.

'No use in spinning your head around. The trick is the road goes forward only. There's no way out unless we defeat the Beast,' Aphedron said in a surprisingly careless tone.

'Imudon surely has a grudge against you,' I hummed. 'Otherwise he wouldn't have sent you to death.'

'I'm Aphedron the Magnificent, and I've survived in much deadlier adventures.'

'But I wonder what's my role in this quest. A live bait for the Beast?'

'Imudon said you could deceive the seals.'

'That's because I have the sacrifice mark like the captain.' I was smitten by the conclusion. 'The gull-sorcerer confirmed that.'

'I'd advise you to skedaddle before your superiors discover that. But I know most of your kind are much more radical than they try to pretend.'

The Dark Apostle had a horrible reason to exploit me for his own goals. My late mentor's heedless treachery could ruin my career every bloody day.

'I'm gonna smite the preacher shithead,' I hissed in helpless anger.

'I'll get some respect for you if you manage to,' the Panther said. 'Be so kind to slap his sidekick as well.'

A violent storm of fire burst to our left. A few torn scraps of dirty psychic smoke flew over the road and melted.

'Dammit,' the Panther cussed. 'I'd say that's a shot of a reaper launcher.'

'Not at us yet.'

'You've ensured us these are no pointy-ears.'

'Thank Chaos these are not of their spiky kin.'

'The guards ahead, the posse behind.' The Panther took a heavy bolter off his belt but didn't shoot back yet.

The immensely swollen crimson orb was immobile over the twisting skyline. Remaining buildings around had molten and merged into solid canyon walls. We rode in following the faintly glowing stream of light. The walls stood miles tall, their upper edges hidden in dark smoke mist.

'The guards will swoop down on us as soon we're close,' the Panther looked up and aimed, ready to pull the trigger.

The road wound on in the strangest directions, under unexisting angles. We could see nothing but the barely visible thin stripe of the path. Aphedron let his kine-blades float ahead as a sparkling razor-sharp cloud. I thought I might fall behind and try to speak out to the xenos. After the encounter with the Necron most of my fears of unknown xenos had gone, giving way to more pragmatic decisions. The Eldar are known to strike deals with those they hope to use in their schemes. But I remembered about my Necron gifts and had to abandon the thought. The only chance was the Phaerakh's sudden appearance. That's how I'm turning into a damn Radical, I said to myself but checked the daggers.

At another turn of the road we saw strange red radiance ahead. Not the dying moon but a burning blaze of red-hot metal. There was a colossal grotto to our right, bigger than the largest basilica on a sector capital. A massive building unscathed by the Defilement towered in a frame of molten wraithbone. Menacing runes were glowing bright all over its enormous carved columns and heavy doors. The only intact remainder of the craftworld's prideful dwellers.

'The War-Shrine, what a luck,' the Panther said contently. 'They often hold weapons of rare might.'

'You've got a screw loose, man.' Aphedron hit him on the shoulder. 'Don't even think of opening the door. We've got problems aplenty even without your crazy ideas.'

'The Magnificent is afraid of a bronze toy soldier that is stone dead without his knife-eared admirers,' the Panther laughed.

'I'm out.'

'Coward,' the Panther sneered and rode close to the wraithbone door.

'The Eldar have sealed it tight,' he growled with disappointment. 'Just a pool of red-hot iron where the keyhole should have been. It's smouldering as if about to melt.'

'I've just told you that.'

I leaned aside from my saddle as the khymera approached the building. Strangely, the door didn't look that fiery to me. I reached out and touched it with my gloved hand.

'Wanna burn alive?' Aphedron snarled. 'We still need you for the final skirmish.'

'It's warm but not as sizzling as you claim.'

'The priest's mark at work.' The Panther realized it quicker then Aphedron.

He took an ornate dagger from his belt and handed it to me. A carmine seer stone glimmered in the carved hilt of red gold.

'Stuff the crystal in the keyhole,' he ordered aiming the bolter at my head.

'You've gone crazy if you gonna kill our living key.' Aphedron reached for his whip.

'If you follow me inside we'll share the loot.'

I examined the smooth surface and found a small socket between two glowing runes. Once I touched it with the dagger hilt, the door was ablaze with eerie radiance of candent steel. I recoiled at the wave of heat. The door opened as a flower of sharp blade petals letting us into the majestic arched nave of the xenos shrine.

We trotted in, all intimidated by the building's still foreboding air lingering for millennia after the last daring warrior had stepped by the polished floors. Every step resonated in the flowy arches as we passed between long rows of rune-strewn columns. Aphedron conjured a glowing warp sphere to light our way through the dark nave. Our lantern floated up, and we saw a colossal stairway leading to the inner chamber. Giant warrior statues stood as silent guards on both sides of its mirror-smooth steps. One for each fearsome Aspect of Khaine the Bloody-Handed. I recognized the winged shape of a Swooping Hawk, the long melta rifle of a Fire Dragon that emitted a gust of spectral flame as we rode by.

'That's the fellow who's stalking us now.' Aphedron pointed at a skull-masked statue whose grenade launcher had a bayonet similar to a scythe blade. 'The Dark Reaper. The image of time that bests every living warrior. These snipers will be waiting for you in the shadows till your personal midnight peals.'

'Often feared by their own kin. Some even call them fosterlings of Khaine, not his children, but their real origin was lost and forgotten after the Fall if not earlier,' said the Panther.

The inner door opened slowly at the touch of his seer stone. We entered a resplendent hall of flawless metal and shining crystals. The Panther and Aphedron headed for the side walls with tall niches filled with sacrificial armour and weapons, and I rode to the inner part where an awe-inspiring colossus of red bronze sat on a towering throne.

A godly perfect warrior wearing a tall-crested helmet, one enormous hand gripping the hilt of a glowing longsword as if ready for battle. The helmet visor was a mask of majestic wrath. The fabled war deity worshipped and feared by the Aeldari.

I bet I felt his stern gaze follow our movements even though the statue was immobile and silent on the throne. My heart throbbed with anxiety, and I felt searing pain where the damn mark had been.

The Avatar moved on his throne. His form came alive with his mighty ire setting the metal on fire. Red-hot drops of his fiery blood oozed from the hands dripping down to the floor. I dashed back. The Panther dropped a sword he'd just taken from one of the niches. He spurred his monstrous mount with a yell of terror.

He galloped out of the room when a wailing torrent of sizzling wind shook the hall. Aphedron's mount tossed its rider to the floor and rushed out. My khymera was leaping to and fro across the hall with a shrill howl. I slipped down from the saddle and hung helplessly. My hands numb and trembling, I gripped the wiggling back limbs.

The glare of the Avatar's merciless fire fell upon us as he rose up from his throne. The door closed with a sound of blades clashing. I flopped face down to the floor and closed my eyes.


	7. VI

The air was unbearably hot. The hall shivered from the floor to the high arches when the flaming giant took the first step. I could only cower in animal fear before his crushing wrath. A voice of intimidating might sounded both above us and inside my mind.

'I SENSE THE FILTH OF YOUR HUNGER, DEVOURER! I MUST SMITE YOUR WRETCHED PUPPET.'

'We're done,' I heard Aphedron's faint psychic whisper. 'It happens so that... there's always someone more magnificent than you.'

'Just because some people are dumb idiots,' I gasped.

'Too weak even to meet death standing on my feet.' I felt his fear for the first time ever.

'If only Fluffster was here.'

Fluffster. Our only illusive chance. It took every ounce of willpower to move my hand and touch the cryptek's communication bead.

'I'll call up Fluffster,' I sent to Aphedron.

'Whatever...' he didn't finish the phrase, struck by supernatural terror again.

The bead was silent for a few seconds. Heavy steps got closer. A short beep. A couple more. Then I heard Fluffster's muffled, mostly indistinct voice.

'What's up, Volentia?'

'Fluffster, do you copy? An Avatar of Khaine, about to attack us.'

'What were you thinking going there?' The ease of his tone made me so angry my fear faded a little.

'We'll friggin' die right now. No bullshit.'

'Get up and stop shaking in horror.'

'Fluffster, you lazy mouse.' I clenched my fists in despair. 'Quicker.'

'Get up and listen well.'

I mustered up the remaining courage to rise to my feet and look at the supernatural giant.

'You batshit crazy,' Aphedron shouted out.

'Don't fear him. He's not a monster, not a daemon. Just a piece of a mighty Old One. Repeat what I say now,' Fluffster's voice stayed calm.

The Avatar walked closer. I could barely bear his incinerating radiance. Majesty and splendour never seen in any mortal creature. His flaming sword hanging over us, we both froze under his fearsome gaze.

'By the wisdom of Asuryan, by the tears of Isha, by the vigour of Kurnous, by the foresight of Morai-Heg, by the craft of Vaul, by the joy of Lileath, by the blood on your hands, listen to my words!' I repeated Fluffster's words almost mindlessly.

The Avatar stopped. He stared back, and his stentorian answer shook the hall.

'SERVANT TO THE ONE ON THE THRONE, WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT THE BEAST AND THE PARASITE TO MY HALLS? WHY DO YOU BEAR THIS MARK?'

White noise subdued Fluffster's already distant voice. The charge was going down. 'Let him judge you then,' Fluffster sighed. 'The Phaerakh will arrive soon.'

The dynamic gave out a helpless beep. Connection lost. I froze in fear and despair, feverishly trying to find proper words.

'I am doing His will, not that of the Great Enemy. The servants of Chaos have taken me captive. They have detained those I hold dear,' it didn't sound much convincing anyway. I had read the Old Ones didn't make difference between the uncounted races of the Galaxy but they'd never tolerated daemon worship.

'AN ANCIENT ENEMY IS AFTER YOU, ONE MORE READY TO EMERGE. THERE HE STARES AT ME THROUGH YOUR EYES FOR YOU CARRY HIS POISON UNAWARES. BEWARE FOR HE STRIVES TO CLAIM YOU. LIKE SHE CLAIMED THE MAD BEAST I WILL SMITE SOON.'

I didn't understand anything. The same obscure warning I had heard from the mysterious guardian of the tower of memories. The Avatar stepped over us easily as a man steps over small bushes. When the door clanged shut behind his back, I wiped sweat off my forehead and took a deep breath. An Old One right from strange legends collected by Ordo Xenos. Pure primordial thought made flesh. The uncorrupted original daemons pretend to copy. Way too much for a single adventure.

Aphedron got up slowly holding to a column. His aura was all terrible fatigue. He hobbled to the exit on shaky legs. The khymera rubbed its head on my shoulder, and I patted its neck trying to gather my thoughts. Fluffster's hidden knowledge was way too disturbing to fully trust him while unaware of his real background. At least he seemed benevolent, I soothed myself. Probably even a friend.

'Looks like we've been in quite a jam.' Aphedron smiled wearily when I overtook him. 'Let me clutch your steed.'

He started walking down the stairs leaning on the khymera's neck. I took a deep breath to encourage myself before the hardest part of the journey. Then came a belated shame about the wasted chance to get Fluffster's advice. Just because one cocky moron had had a stupid idea to snatch a xeno shank.

'We mustn't let the Panther claim the prize,' I said. 'Just because of what he's done.'

'I've expected something like that. Well, when you know your buddy for a hundred centuries. But I've played a lousy trick on him as well. I've paid the Headsman to release your pal while the Panther is messing with the trophy hunt.'

Aphedron gave out a mean chuckle coming back to his usual self-confidence. We hurried to the War-Shrine gates to catch up with our rival as soon as possible. The canyon was even darker than before, whispering voices lower and creepier. Aphedron's mount was nowhere to be seen.

'I'll have to ride the shank's mare,' he grunted. 'The Beast will munch him even before we get close to the palace.'

'Or the Avatar smashes him against the wall with all his arrogance.'

The voices died at once. We both startled at a sudden touch of a menacing aura.

'We've forgotten about the posse,' Aphedron growled.

A squad of jetbikes in bloody purple and black floated out of the darkness. The riders were sinister spectres in sleek yet heavy armour, grim skull-masks carved upon their tall bone-white helmets. Their presence felt creepier than even the metallic tomb-warriors, though many Inquisitors and rogue traders thought the Aeldari to be the most mundane kind of xenos. We froze staring down the barrels of their launchers.

'Our time has come,' Aphedron said calmly.

The leader stood up, truly fearsome in the Exarch panoply I'd seen on picts or illustrations only. Mostly human in shape yet his flowy movements utterly alien to human eye. His voice was dispassionate and cool as he addressed us.

'Don't move, mon-keigh. Lowly temple-looters that reek of filth. Where's the third of your company?'

'Why the hell are you talking instead of blowing us up from a safe distance?' Aphedron chuckled.

'Your final hour hasn't pealed yet. The presence of you both disrupts the pattern of fates.'

'We're of no use here as our companion has dumped us,' I said thinking about how to snatch out the daggers.

'So you will follow us.'

'If you hold a grudge against that gluttonous beast you'd better shoot him at the exit of the canyon,' I suggested.

'Don't tell us what to do, wee human. Or you think you're wiser than the Weeping Seer?'

His chuckle was cold and hair-raising. He waved his hand, and my khymera paced back towards him. The frigid aura of the aliens enveloped me.

'Both of you have to reach the cursed chamber so the strands could come together. Why has the Avatar left you alive?'

'I've got some good advice for a friend,' I said sincerely. 'And the Avatar was in a hurry to fight the Beast.'

'The Father of all warriors knows what the Seer saw.' The Exarch took aim at Aphedron. 'Come here as well, repulsive slave of She-who-thirsts. I'd put you down if I was to decide.'

The Exarch put his hand on the khymera's head, and I could feel him flinch in disgust.

'Why have you put this piece of filth on the creature? It's utter suffering for any soul to wear these blasphemous sigils.'

'An enemy of mine did that to bind it,' I confessed.

'You're here by your enemy's will. Take off the collar. It won't devour you if you release it from this foul sorcery.'

Struggling with paralyzing anxiety, I reached for the clasp. The collar was a piece of white-hot metal to the touch. I cried out and dropped it to the ground. The panting beast rubbed its head against my hand, and I felt it shiver.

'I didn't want to torment you,' I said to the khymera. 'So if you gonna eat someone, let it be your captor and my sworn foe.'

'He's been watching you through the enchantment of this collar. To bind you to his will when you have fulfilled his goal. Now let your companion take your place in the saddle and get on my bike. The ride will be fast.'

We both obeyed with detached resolve. I climbed on the back of the Exarch's seat and caught on the pole of his banner. The start was smooth but soon the jetbikes rushed forward with lightning speed. Gusts of wind hit me in the face, and I gasped clutching the pole as tight as I could. I heard a sound of explosion behind but when I turned back all I could see was one of the silent Reapers lowering the launcher.

'The tainted item is destroyed,' the Exarch said. 'Don't take anything your enemy offers you unless you want to lose your soul. An only touch of that can twist you. Aether-creatures that get the taint become foes and demise of their masters.'

'Aphedron has told me khymerae are savage because they're born of our bad dreams.'

'If you take one for yourself, it will become the reflection of your inside. Your own inner daemons might devour you if you don't suppress their voices.'

'You're here to finish the Panther. Why haven't you killed him while you were stalking us?' I asked him straightforward.

'We had reasons,' he replied coldly. 'Show me the deadly weapon you keep in secret.'

'You've got a damn launcher. I won't do the job for you. Your kind doesn't use that anyway.'

'You know nothing, mon-keigh. Show me your weapon.'

He snatched the dagger from my hand with a swift gesture as soon as I pulled it out.

'I might stick the other into your back for such brazen robbery.'

'You're not quick enough,' he sneered.

'Anyway we're probably late to the skirmish.'

'One who is one with time never worries about how to fit into its current.'

Red moonlight flashed in the distant end of the canyon, and the smokescreen above came down splitting into theroid shapes of dirty mist. The Aspect Warriors fired their launchers with astonishing speed and synchrony. Only a few tiny smoke shreds melted upon falling over is, no more harmful. More and more abominations were spawned by the tainted brume but the posse rushed out of the gorge not even slowing down. Each shot was a perfect hit that destroyed an entire pack of theroid monsters.

Before us, right under the swollen colossal orb, glimmering dunes of crystal sand surrounded a gigantic twisted palace. Its mutated wraithbone grew into a mess of clawed limbs, scythe blades, vague shapes of ferocious beasts. One of the walls had been mutilated and burnt from the ground to the roof arches, and we heard sounds of fervent battle from the horrible breach. When they reached my mind, it was like a melta bomb exploding inside the head.

'We will wait here till our time has come,' the Exarch's voice was dispassionate even in the feverish psychic noise that made the whole place tremble.

'If the Panther's alive, he'll find a way to distract you,' Aphedron said.

'Hush, slave of the Great Enemy. We will wait in the dunes while the palace stands.'

The distorted dome cracked in half with a dazzling burst of flame. Distant dunes disappeared in eerie dark clouds. What if those were... I startled when the Avatar's incandescent form stepped out of the ruins, and his flaming sword swung with a wail of devastation. His foe was a being out of the worst nightmares, a colossus of spectral unflesh molded into a fearsome bestial shape.

Strangely similar to the Panther's mount, the giant was an unholy combination of daemonic essence and quasi-Tyranid form. Only vaguely humanoid, he was still armed by a weapon surpassing even his scythe-claws. A blade of dirty smoke and scarlet fire clashed against the Wailing Doom. The Beast's chitinous hide was parched and mauled by the Avatar's mighty blows but the fiery warrior was already bleeding from numerous terrible wounds where the smoky sword had cut his bronze armour.

'Time has come.'

A swift move - and the dagger-shard took its place in the magazine of the Exarch's launcher. Before I could wonder how it could ever fit there, the Aeldari sniper fired the weapon. The giant beast stumbled and uttered a roar of despair. His shape cracked and started dissolving into greasy smoke. The sinister blade slipped out of his limb and stuck in the sand. The blob of brume exploded with an anti-psychic charge of such might I passed out.

When I came to myself, neither the Dark Reapers nor the Avatar were around. Aphedron lay face down in the sand, still unconscious. Our khymera had left as well along with the Aeldari. A better fate for a beast of the wild who doesn't belong to the nightmarish chaotic shrine. The blade was still there, its scarlet hilt casting light on the smoking ruins of the cursed palace. Dunes in the distance had been fully swallowed by darkness. I stood up and hobbled to the sword as if something was pulling me closer to the dreaded weapon. I mustn't take it. I can destroy it. But it will leave me defenseless before my greatest foe.

'Still alive, wretched wench of the False Emperor?' I heard the Panther's growl behind.

The pirate leapt out of his hiding in the dunes. His armour battered, his weapons missing, he was slowed down by wounds but still deadly to a plain human being like me. He had been lucky enough to avoid demise by the sword of the Avatar yet he wouldn't get the prize. I pulled out the second blade and gripped it with both hands.

'This shank will destroy you like the other one has ruined the Beast!' I shouted.

'Get out of my way, and I'll grant you a quick death,' he roared back. 'And my best buddy's pretty head will become a treasured trophy in my large collection.'

I made a few steps forward to reach for the weapon. A dark cloud cracking with viridian discharges covered the ruins. When it dissolved, the Phaerakh in her formidable wargear stepped forward. She raised her glowing scythe in battle zeal over her crowned head. Her loyal cryptek followed, and behind them in the distance I saw countless metal soldiers marching in perfect columns under the bloated moon.

'Get away, rusty pieces of metal!' the Pirate King yelled in despair I hadn't seen in him before. 'Do not dare to touch what belongs to me!'

The Phaerakh pulled out the blade with a quick gracious move, stepped on it and snapped it in half.

'Take it if you need it so, squalid human.'

The Panther's furious roar turned into a howl. He rushed forth swinging the burnt remains of his cutlass. The cryptek only waved his dark staff. I froze in wordless awe. The pirate fell to his knees before the Necrons trying to grab the broken pieces with an inhuman frantic yowl.

'Return what you have taken without permission,' the cryptek ordered, touching the Panther's helmet with his staff.

The Panther screamed shivering. With trembling hands he reached into his armour hood and pulled out a small emerald cube. The cryptek examined the piece.

'One fragment is missing. You have peculated it.'

'That's all. All the trader has brought me,' the Panther groaned, his fingers tapping on his teleport homer.

'So tell us more.'

The cryptek didn't finish the phrase. Coruscant blue light flashed before us, and the pirate was gone. The Necrons came closer to me.

'I've done what I could.' I gave them a crooked smile.

'Do not worry, human,' the Phaerakh said. 'Your job is done. Soon your friend will join you.'

'I'll catch the blackred scoundrel one day. But let me keep the other blade just in case.'

'Gifts are not to be returned.'

Fluffster appeared from a dark cloud next to the ruined palace.

'The Silent King will get our answer soon,' he addressed the Phaerakh. 'Once I get in touch with the others.'

'Fare ye well, human sage and young apprentice.'

'Well, technically you're my acolyte, not the opposite,' I grunted when the Necrons left.

'Not as important as you think.' Fluffster just shook his head in response. 'Let's now rescue our jittery friends.'

'One last question, Fluffster. I was taught the Aeldari and the Necrons were exact opposites in everything. How could the Dark Reaper sniper fire the null shard at the Beast?'

'Well, Volentia, you do remember blackstone. It can extinguish as well as amplify warp energies. Give it a thought.'

The captain of the cursed ship examined the remains of the blade with mixed sorrow and fear.

'You've lost the khymera, you've destroyed the blade, and we'll all be punished for your fail. You'd better never learn about what waits for us in the First Acolyte's undervaults.'

'What about us then?' I asked.

Her answer shocked me.

'I might set you free.'

'What favour do you want in return?'

'You shall grant my request next time we meet.'


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

Aphedron the Magnificent shook his head and sat up. There was no one at the ravaged remains of the palace. Either of his travelling companions could have won the prize, but none of them seemed to care about him. The Beast seemingly dead, there should be a way back to the Webway gate. He wasn't much looking forward to meeting the Harlequins or any other wanderers of the ancient maze but he'd surely live for another day to fight and win.

He rose up shaking fine dust from his armour. Sudden motion inside the ruins resonated in his mind with a bout of psychic unrest. A familiar air. Way too familiar. The ruins started shifting and regrowing, something more menacing stirring and waking inside. He could feel the eerie smell of musk and ambergris even in his helmet.

The contours of the fortress on a long destroyed desert world towered before him, flooded by the scarlet radiance of the phantom moon. A moonbeam traced a narrow winding path through the dunes. The third attempt to break in. To conquer the fabled treasure. To risk instead of fleeing the craftworld, dishonoured by the fail. Aphedron put his hand on the whip handle and stepped forward.

He felt the aliens' freezing psychic presence again. When he turned back, their launchers were all aimed at him.

'Drop the weapons. You don't stand a chance,' the Exarch growled.

'Fire your launchers then, knife-eared bastards.'

'The Weeping Seer wishes to dig into your wretched mind.'

One of the xenos threw up his hand. Aphedron gasped at a sting in the neck. His limbs got numb, his vision blurred, and he collapsed unconscious for the second time today. The Aeldari threw him over the khymera's back. The Exarch walked a few steps closer to the regrown palace. A little metallic cube glowed green and blue in his outstretched hand.

'Father Time, Kaelis Ra,' he whispered. 'Let there remain no taint. Let there remain no filth.'

A gigantic shape of silver and antracite and jet emerged with unhurried majesty over the deserted dunes. The awe-inspiring being moved forth, the tattered hemline of his wavering robe of night clouds floating behind. The Dark Reapers watched in silent admiration as the giant raised his lean silvery arm, and a flash of energy fell over the palace like a scythe blade.

There came a thundering crack, and the spectral outline of the fortress blurred. Crystal sand flooded the building, swept in colossal waves from every direction. Then the sky-vault and the ground themselves moved, started convolving till they met with a blinding implosion.

The eldar warriors found themselves standing on the crossroads in the midst of the Webway. Glimmering passages and paths were quiet as if nothing had ever happened. A small piece of wraithbone lay at the Exarch's feet - all that remained of the tainted craftworld. He felt a glare of fierce flame touch his mind and vanish in the twisting pathways. He hid the precious cube with a shard of Father Time's powerful essence.

'Time brings the night. But time lets a new day come forth.'

 **Next episode: s/13070917/1/Volume-1-Episode-8-Iron-Sharpeth-Iron**


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